Toy Review - JP Masterpiece Soundwave

[Megatron]

Another part of my laserbeak broke! Ugh!

That sucks! Can you ask for an exchange at this point??

Disappointing to hear about all these QC issues. Do you think it might be a case of us becoming too fussy as 'collectors' as opposed to something we wouldn't have thought twice about when we were kids?

I think for the general release toys we, as collectors, can be a bit too fussy sometimes ("They're meant to be played with!" "They're targeted mainly at kids!" etc.), but for Masterpieces, definitely not. They are made primarily for the collector, and paying the prices that we do for them, quality control should be a priority.

[Iriorne]

I noticed my right foot pivot was a bit stiff and wouldn't quite fold out all the way. Disassembled and found the same issue as Griffin. Fortunately judicious application of sandpaper appears to have fixed it up.

Disappointing to hear about all these QC issues. Do you think it might be a case of us becoming too fussy as 'collectors' as opposed to something we wouldn't have thought twice about when we were kids?

I tend to agree (either that or I've been very lucky too!).

As I said earlier, on other forums people are upset about missing the small silver paint dot on SW's forehead, barely visible swirls on the cassette door, and other relatively minor issues which I think distracts from major problems like Kup's laserbeak, unpainted feet or poorly assembled foot joints.

I've read, and this is pure speculation and rumour, that BBTS has clamped down on exchanges as a result of the number of MP-12s that were returned over minor issues. If this is the case, it could be argued that fussy collectors pursuing the 'perfect' bot have muddied the waters so much that those with genuine problems are now left out in the cold?

(Maybe this is more an American thing - their domestic shipping rates are pretty cheap so they can better afford to return items to the store? Given the cost of international postage from Australia I'd be thinking very carefully before sending anything back.)

Something else to keep in mind is that the number of parts that go into masterpiece figures is huge compared to the old G1 transformers which were made of 5 pieces and had 3 points of articulation if you were lucky. Simple blocky shapes are easier to make, harder to mix up and the fewer points of interaction with other pieces, the less likely you are to have issues. I don't buy the "good old days" argument at all - needs a much bigger sample size than one person's collection.

I'd be very interested to know what the overall defect rate is for the entire production run. These toys are being mass produced in their thousands but I'd bet only a small percentage of buyers are participating in the forums, and only a small percentage of those are experiencing or reporting problems.

[Bidoofdude]

Really excited for the Hasbro release!!!! SO GOOD!!!!!

[kup]

Thanks guys! Looks like I managed to fix it but again, another repair job so not too thrilled about it.

On the up side, I was about to throw out the RK brown box it was shipped in and found the coin! I figured that I didn't get it because I pre-ordered late but there it was! That does lift my spirits a little

[Hursticon]

Thanks guys! Looks like I managed to fix it but again, another repair job so not too thrilled about it.

On the up side, I was about to throw out the RK brown box it was shipped in and found the coin! I figured that I didn't get it because I pre-ordered late but there it was! That does lift my spirits a little

Awesome news on both fronts dude! - Still, I'm really sorry that your experience with Laserbeak has been the pits; hopefully this hasn't sullied your impression of Soundwave himself too much.

[kup]

Awesome news on both fronts dude! - Still, I'm really sorry that your experience with Laserbeak has been the pits; hopefully this hasn't sullied your impression of Soundwave himself too much.

Thanks Hurty, sadly the fix I made failed during the transformation back from tape to robot so it was a premature 'victory'. However I think I can fix it again, I just need another try tomorrow.

[griffin]

A drop in quality is to be expected, as Hasbro/Tomy keeps finding cheaper and cheaper factories to produce their toys... toys that are by no means simplistic to construct, by people who probably have limited education.
Could you imagine how mundane that life would be, attaching feet onto Soundwave legs all day, in the assembly line process (for the next person to attach something else)... if that part is complex or has minimal clearance, the limited training and wages (at the cheaper factory) is bound to end up having toys with defects.

[kup]

A drop in quality is to be expected, as Hasbro/Tomy keeps finding cheaper and cheaper factories to produce their toys... toys that are by no means simplistic to construct, by people who probably have limited education.
Could you imagine how mundane that life would be, attaching feet onto Soundwave legs all day, in the assembly line process (for the next person to attach something else)... if that part is complex or has minimal clearance, the limited training and wages (at the cheaper factory) is bound to end up having toys with defects.

Other smaller companies can pull it off and do a better job and by that I don't just mean 3rd parties but Neca, 4H, Bandai, etc. It seems that Hasbro and Mattel fail at it because they are consciously looking for the cheapest way to manufacture their goods and increase revenue. Like most modern corporate bodies, the aim is to profit as much as possible without much regard (or none in Mattel's case) towards quality or for the end consumer.

Yeah, I also feel for the factory slave workers and can see why they would not do a very good job but that's exactly the point. Hasbro/Mattel uses them because they are cheap and it shows.

[griffin]

Yeah, they can pull it off it they wanted to, but I think they feel that they can get away with it because 95% of the users of their products are children - who either won't notice/care about minor defects, or will be blamed by the parent as being the one who broke the toy to begin with.
(and of those small number of adult collectors, few have the willingness to publicly take back a toy to be replaced - even if they could claim that it was "for their child", it is still difficult to approach another adult about their own toy)

If these products were primarily aimed at adults, who would scrutinise the items like we do here, these multi-national companies would be more worried about QC issues, that would cost them money in replacements, and bad publicity.

[kurdt_the_goat]

It's unfortunate that we're at the shit end of the supply chain cause i'm sure with the issues that have been seen, if you were local in Japan you'd be able to get a replacement/fix with little fuss. Every time myself or the wife has had to deal with things gone wrong in Japan, you wouldn't believe the extent they go to to keep customers happy. Not toy related but the other day my wife sent a query regarding pets to the responsible government department and received an email reply same day at 11... PM. Now that would be unheard of here!

I wonder has anyone with a proper Australian released toy contacted Hasbro regarding a busted toy? Over here you can tend to go out to the shops and just take it back, so whether Hasbro ever deals directly with customers regarding QC, i'm not sure. Without knowing that, it's not very fair to bash them. They may go cheap on factories but if they do have systems i place to rectify direct with the customer, it shouldn't really matter.